Free Codename Eagle by Robert Rigby

head and looked at Eddie, who, without a word, refilled the tin bowl from a can he had carried over from the house. The twins usually said little while they were at work. By the time they left the house they knew exactly what had to be done, so they saved most of their conversation for the evenings.
    And besides, they were twins, and like many sets of twins they had an almost telepathic understanding. Both had been thinking a lot that morning, and their thoughts had been along similar lines.
    “I didn’t like seeing them drag the woman into the house,” said Eddie, breaking the silence.
    “I know,” Gilbert answered. He watched the dog lap up the second bowl of water before continuing. “But they didn’t hurt her.”
    “How do we know that? For certain? We’ve been working all morning.”
    “The one who stayed behind, the radio operator, he told me she hasn’t been hurt.”
    “And you believe him?”
    Gilbert hesitated before replying. “He said they’ve given her food. And coffee.”
    The dog looked from one twin to the other, as though following their conversation. He shook himself, and padded over to Eddie to stand at his side.
    “I didn’t think about this when Forêt asked us to help,” Eddie said.
    “Of course you didn’t, you just thought about the money. Like I did.”
    “I don’t like this, Gilbert, it doesn’t seem right. Forêt said they were coming to pick up a wanted man. That’s all. I thought he meant he’d be some sort of criminal. And he didn’t say anything about the man’s wife.”
    “Maybe he didn’t know.”
    “And what if they don’t find the husband, the one they really want? What will they do with the woman then?”
    Gilbert glanced over towards the house. “It’s got nothing to do with us, Eddie.”
    “You think they’ll take her back to Germany without the husband?”
    “They’ll let her go if she’s no use to them.”
    Eddie stared at the ground. “Or kill her and bury her somewhere in the forest.”
    Gilbert thought back to the previous day on the plateau, when their cousin, Alain, had come perilously close to being shot simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. “We won’t let them kill her.”
    “Oh, and how are we supposed to stop them? There are six of them and two of us.”
    Gilbert turned and stared at the house again. “There’s only one of them in there now.”

FOURTEEN
    T he five Germans stood in a ragged semicircle, looking down at Rosalie Granel, who was sprawled on the small sofa in the sitting room, a glass of water in one hand and a sheet of paper, with which she was fanning her face, in the other.
    Hauptmann Lau, Steidle, Werner and the two soldiers who had called themselves the Brothers Grimm had combined to lift her fairly gently from the floor, settle her on the chair and fetch her the water.
    Now they just stared, limp apologetic smiles on their faces, as they waited for her to speak.
    “It was a shock,” she gasped eventually, “such a shock. That big man there,” she aimed at Werner with the hand holding the glass, “and the gun, pointed at my heart. I was certain he was going to shoot me.”
    She shivered and rested the sheet of paper over her heart. “I can feel it pounding,” she said dramatically, staring at Lau, who was closest. “My heart. Pounding,” she repeated for emphasis. “I was certain I was going to have a heart attack.” Her voice quivered and she pointed at Werner again. “If he didn’t shoot me first. And then, everything went dark and I knew nothing more until you lifted me from the floor.”
    Lau, who spoke almost perfect French, had indicated to his men that he would do the talking. “We’re so sorry, terribly sorry, madame. We had no idea that you would be arriving.”
    “But I’m always here at this time, every week,” Rosalie told him. “To do the cleaning. For Julia.”
    “Oh, I see,” Lau said.
    Rosalie sipped a drop of water as she considered her next words. “But a gun!